Laina's genetic hand-me-downs...

Well, it had to happen at some point. Laina is, after all, half Hoskinson, and so I should have expected her to start exhibiting some classic behavior that can only be attributed to my half of the gene pool. Unfortunately, her Hoskinson-like tendencies are being twisted and in some ways amplified by the odd behavior only seen on the Ali side. Pictures speak a thousand words.


First off, a Hosko-Ali mixture. She started out feeding her toys "spicy peas" whenever she ate because it was sort of funny (classic Hoskinson). And she even carried the joke on long past its shelf-life (also classic Hoskinson). But she's gone beyond that and turned it into somewhat of an obsession with feeding every toy in the room when she's eating. And they can't share a pea, they each need their own, and the chair needs to be pulled in all the way (Ali-like). This photo was taken at what was hopefully the peak of attendance at the spicy pea buffet, as today only her bus was available to dine.

Next is classic Hoskinsonitis. Olives on the fingers. Anything for a laugh. Surprisingly Jenna introduced her to the idea, and even helped her do it, so I might suspect there's some Ali-ness in this one as well.


And then there's the Jelly-Joker. A little more jolly than the Heath Ledger version, and she didn't need to be dipped in a vat of chemicals to get this way, just ate a particularly jelly-saturated PBJ. This is all Laina. Speaking of PBJ sandwiches, I made the mistake of introducing Laina to the Peanut Butter Jelly Time song... and had to sing it with every PBJ I gave her for a couple of weeks. The fact that she loves the song? Hoskinson. Making me sing it over and over for weeks? Ali.

So there you have our two-in-one daughter. Sorry for handing down all the idiosyncrasies, Laina.

Laina's first pig-tails

I put pig-tails in Laina's hair for the first time the other day. I can't believe her hair is long enough to put into pig-tails! She didn't like the process of me doing it, but afterward when she saw her hair in the mirror she loved it. Now she asks for "piggies". It's pretty cute. She looks like such a little girl, not a baby anymore!

Yes, we are Still Alive

I know we haven't blogged much lately. Everything is a little more chaotic right now than normal, but things are okay. I don't remember how much Jay posted in the last installment, but he is still looking for work. I am working 3 days a week at the stables now, and that brings in a little bit of income. I also have my little baby diaper/clothing business going fairly well right now and just got my embellished prefolds listed in Pampered Buns' shop! That is exciting for me to see my stuff in an actual shop! I also have my nutritional supplement/wellness business going very well and plan to make a full time income with it by year's end! I am going to an all-day training this Saturday to learn about health and nutrition and how the products I'm selling fit into a healthy lifestyle. This is exciting for me because I've always been interested in healthy living and nutrition and had even thought of becoming a nutritionist at one point. Now I have the opportunity to turn yet another of my interests into a career.

So, in spite of Jay losing his job, God is good and I know that He will be the ultimate providor for our family. The message at church last Sunday actually got me thinking about this whole situation differently. It was on John 11 and the death of Lazarus. When Jesus heard of Lazarus' sickness, he said "this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." I'm not sure why I related this to our situation, but I realized that the outcome of this situation will be for God's glory. It is not for us. It isn't so Jay can get a better job, or so that we can be in a "better place" in the long run. It's not about us suffering or having to learn to rely on God (once again). It isn't about us at all. It's about Him. I think the outcome of this situation is going to be something that brings glory to God. I have no idea what that means, but I still believe it. It's hard to be in a place of waiting and not knowing. But I trust in Him and know that we are here to serve His purpose and that if we let His will be done, this will all serve to glorify Him.

Hmmm... what now?

Its been almost 2 weeks since I was laid off, and its starting to sink in how difficult it might be to find work around here (or anywhere). It seems that all the architecture firms in Denver (and likely across the country) are either also in the midst of layoffs, or so anxious about the lack of work that they are in hiring freeze mode. I'm still sending resumes to firms in the area and exhausting my connections, but am also working on plans b, c, d, and e... It doesn't seem to matter much what kind of resume or references you're coming to the table with or even who you know. Of course, if I had prison design experience, I'd have a job next week.

So everyday we're running through the same questions... Will I work in some alternate industry? Will Jenna start looking for work in her former industry? Will we have to sell our house and move again? Will we just sit it out and eat up our savings? Should I freelance and/or start my own side business until firms start hiring again? Lots of options, and I would say we're fairly fuzzy on the what direction is best.

Yet for some reason we're both pretty relaxed and un-stressed about the situation. I don't know if we're in denial, if its all the prayers from our friends, or the knowledge that we have a good amount in reserve in our savings account (though intended for a basement finish), or a combination of all. I'm nervous about finding a job, but no particularly about whether or not we'll be okay. I guess having done our 8-9 month stint of financial stress a couple of years ago while waiting for our house to sell in CA, we have learned to trust a little more that things will turn out in the end. The biggest question is 'when is that end?'... and a close second is 'how do we get there?'... neither of which ever gets answered for you in advance.

Of course, having a smiling toddler who is just excited to have you home all day definitely helps the psyche. Laina couldn't be happier, plus I have to say the last few days have been ideal days to not be working (60s and 70s all week so far).

Montana is big and I have no job

So, after a morning layoff, I went to Montana for my friend Jeff's wedding. It worked out okay for me, because it was a good way to take my mind off of being unemployed for a few days. It wasn't the greatest for Jenna, however, as she was stuck at home to think about how we were going to deal with my lack of income.

Since I don't really have much news on the employment front (aside from some decent leads that I'm hopeful about, but its too soon to tell whether they will pan out), I figured I'd blog a little about the Montana trip.

I didn't know many people who were going, but turned out I had met a couple of the other groomsmen before. The first night I discovered I was one of a few others there that had also been laid off recently, so I was not alone. It turns out it had been raining over melting snow for a few days before we got there, so the ground was solid ice in a lot of places, which made walking a little tricky. We also decided that snowboarding would not likely be all that fantastic, so the whole wedding party, along with some other family and friends went cross country skiing in Glacier National Park instead, which was gorgeous and very big. On the drive out we passed a few bald eagles swirling around in the sky above a turquoise blue river next to some snowy mountains... pretty awesome. I didn't get a picture but here's a random google images hit for 'ya for a visual of what that was like:


Cross Country skiing is actually pretty fun, especially with a big group of mostly novices. I fell more times than I could count due to the slightly icy snow, the complete lack of metal edges on the skis and my total incompetence, but it was still a lot of fun. One of the oddest things I noticed was a sign in the forest that informed you that you were, indeed, in the forest


On the drive back to town, we passed one of the most unusual and scary things I'd ever seen. There was a highway patrol pulled over on the side with someone in front. As we got closer we all caught a glimpse of the culprit. A four-wheeler/ATV was pulled over on the side with a BABY in a car seat strapped to the front (rear-facing of course, for safety). I'm hoping the guy was being pulled over for wrecklessly endangering the baby, and not for a broken taillight or something...

The rehearsal took place in the evening, after the sun went down, but I could tell we were near a lake of some sort. The next day at the wedding, I realized this was not just any lake, but a really, really big lake. In fact, it was Flathead lake, which is 2.5 times bigger than Lake Tahoe, and the largest freshwater lake in the western US. It was gorgeous and enormous, much like Lake Tahoe. I snapped a few cell phone photos that don't even come close to doing it justice. It was really surreal to be so ignorant of the local geography that I wasn't even aware of this lake's existence.


The wedding was great, and it was fun to experience Montana and get to meet some of the natives and take in some of Montana's natural abundance. It never even occured to me to visit Montana before, but now I might consider going back at some point for a trip (it is probably equally gorgeous in the summer).

Anyway, I'm back home now, and getting my job search in motion. Hopefully I won't be out of work for long and no drastic life changes will be necessary.

SCL moment

Some of you may read the blog "Stuff Christians Like". I feel like I just lived a moment right out of the pages of Prodigal Jon's cyber-world.

Jay has been away for a few days so it's just me and Laina holding down the fort here. There is this church literally 5 minutes up the street from out house that has a couple Saturday evening services. I won't be able to go to our normal church in the morning because we'll be picking up Jay from the airport. Jay and I had been to this church right up the street before, a couple years ago when we were first looking for a church in the Denver area. There were some things we liked and some things we didn't, so we kept on our church hunt. We found our current church and it really felt like home, so we settled in. Now with a kid and 2 years later, I often drive by this closer church and, knowing they have Saturday services that work fantastically with Laina's schedule, keep thinking we need to give it a second chance. So, with Jay gone, I thought it would be the perfect time for me to go check it out again.

I got Laina settled into the right classroom, headed into the sanctuary, and immediately remembered why we didn't feel at home there. It feels very "over-produced" and they have camera people all over the place filming. It's pretty distracting. I got a seat and seriously could not focus, there were so many things I was critical of. I'm not saying this to talk bad about the church. It really is a wonderful church with hundreds if not thousands of attenders. They are obviously doing something right. I am saying it because I know this is an area that I need to work on in my life - being critical.

So about half way into the service, I think in my head, "oh my gosh, I'm totally here for free childcare!" That's the SCL moment. I'm pretty sure there is a post about using church for free childcare on his blog somewhere in the archives. The message ended up being good and I was glad I went and didn't completely feel like I was "using" the church, but it was still funny to me.

There you have it - my real-life Stuff Christians Like moment.

Christmas Trip Finale

I'm going to wrap up the Christmas blog, as its already 2009...

So, after spending a couple of days at Jenna's folks' house, we headed down to Orange County to my brother's house on Christmas Eve after stopping off for Christmas Eve services at our old church, Rock Harbor. I was dreading the Christmas Morning early wake-up call, since Jenna and I were both fighting colds, and really needed sleep. Luckily the kids didn't wake everyone up until around 6:45, and we managed to sneak downstairs and join them without waking up Laina, so she got to sleep in. It was a fun day spent hanging out with family, staying in (rainy outside), and playing with all the new toys. Their living room is really a play room, so there was all kinds of fun stuff for Laina to do even if she hadn't gotten any presents (of which she got plenty).

Laina loved her cousin's new dollhouse (and luckily got a more age appropriate one from Grandma Hoskinson for Christmas) and spent a huge amount of time playing with her cousin Kaity (and wanting to ride in the little car they have, and go down the slide in the living room). She also found a connection with her cousin Conner in a love of fighter jets (my kind of girl... from dollhouses to fighter jets in no time flat).


Her cousin Kylie got to read her bedtime story, and I got to give her some drawing lessons (if you can call them that), along with playing endless games of Sorry, which she dominated consistently.

The morning after Christmas, we met up with a bunch of our old friends from our church small group. It just so happened that despite most of them living all over the country, we all were in town that day to meet for breakfast at Ruby's (mmm). It was awesome to see everyone again, like zero time had passed (despite the three munchkins in tow, and the two more on the way).


Then we headed back to the airport, and had a much less eventful flight back, actually arriving early. The only panicked moment was when we got to my car way out in the economy lot and realized I had left the dome light on, so the battery was dead. Luckily we had just been chatting with another couple with kids while walking to our car, and I was able to run and flag them down to give us a jump.. (whew).

The next morning was Saturday, so we had our own mini-Christmas at home, with a few presents to open. We had a "Christmas Story" style Christmas Dinner at a Chinese restaurant (the roast duck).


So, this year the Christmas week was a little more hectic than we'd like, but it was good nonetheless, and we had a great time getting out and seeing everyone. Laina loved all the attention for sure. Its really an amazing holiday, in that we're celebrating the fact that the very God who created everything and everyone actually took it upon himself to be born into our world as a helpless infant in a stable, and despite his omnipotent authority, revealed himself first to the lowest of the low in the culture (shepherds, then prostitutes, tax collectors, etc). Its really rediculous if you think about it. Its absurd to even suggest, if not for the fact that it actually happened. One of the things I love about the way God works is that he doesn't tend to do things the way anyone would expect. Of all the ways that a writer would conceive of God invading the earth, none of them would look anything like the events documented in the gospels. Probably more like Independence Day.

Anyway, Happy New Year!